home and garden show

i got a call today from some lady telling me about a home and garden show in my area and was asking if i would be interested in a booth for the show. just wondering if anyone has done this before and if so was it sucessful?

Jeff, I'd find out the cost first of all and is it a local small town show or one like the "Big Show" at the Dome. Personally I don't think these shows generate enough additional service interest, advertising value or income to justify the time.

I have never paid for a booth but I have worked them for other related companies European garden pieces, pots, fountains, benches, and a fertigation company. Lots of free advice given out and little profit to show from it. I have heard of a company in the east that does one big show in Boston and that is their marketing buget for the year. They spend 30,000 or so on the show landscape and win the contest and get a lot of leads, as I recall they were a couple of brothers and working 60-70 hr weeks on a reg. basis. The did well but worked their butts off.

“If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.”

We are cleaning up from the NJ Flower show today after a 4 day show that was preceded by a three day setup. The display took a few months to create and organize all the materials. If not for low cost labor, donated materials, rental plants and product being lent by manufacturers the cost would be prohibitive. You don't know what the response will be, just like any type of advertising, but the exposure can be a very large benefit. There is also the opportunity to create a garden that is truly a fantasy and wow a large majority of folks. If you are only able to setup a booth and advertise your services, you must weigh cost, traffic flow and exposure to the appropriate audience. Will the people coming to this event be potential clients for your business? Are they in an area you can service and are they the demographic you wish to reach? I must say I am completely exhausted and look forward to finishing up today and getting so much needed rest. Not only do you have to create your space, you must build it, occupy it for the whole show and then dismantle it. It is a great deal of work, but can have very distinct benefits.

Kirk,
Please let me know the outcome of the show. You and I probably have the same level of per capita income clients. We are located in Upper Fairfield County. Lets put it this way, I could not afford to buy the house I am living in today. Good Luck! By the way, very nice set up.
Mark

I can't speak on the home show circuit, but I can tell you from the high tech market, displaying at these shows is a complete waste of time. Not only from the effort to go and the cost involved cost, but you are only making contact with whoever comes to your display.

If you want to generate business, do like the Japanese do....they get a briefcase type of samples or brochures...then they walk the show meeting everyone they can...when they hook up, they pull them off to the side and give them a mini display--for free.

A booth is a great idea if you want to get name recognition, but get yourself a bunch of those pens or magnets and walk the show instead...you will end up with the same thing for free and you get to roam the show as opposed to sitting in a booth. Only get a booth if you have something really different to display...everyone showing the same thing generates nothing but yawns.

This was an exercise in design and brings pleasure and a hope of spring to those that attend. Some work may come from it, but I was not the designer of this space. This is a fellow designer that created this and with some help from her friends and fellow artisans created this display. I was the hardscape liaison here and one of the builders of virtually a stage set that was created by a lighting designer and pallet recycler. He also did the well lighting, spots on the seating area and Nite Orbs. The orbs were a big hit and folks bought 7 of the 12 we were using. Some of the plants were also sold as well as some of the containers. You'd like to sell it all as an install or piece it out, but that doesn't always happen.

We did win first prize for Best Interpretation of Theme, which was Gardens, Near and Far. An appropriate reward for a group of designers trying to wow the attendees with a title of Rock the Kasbah. They wouldn't let me play the Clash song, not even once. Through 4 days of show floor time, I believe we succeeded with the designers vision.

Theses can be very expensive with unknown returns, but they are exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I look forward to doing it again, just don't know when or where.